R. Hugh Dickinson

R. Hugh DICKINSON, M.D. Hugh Dickinson was a kind, gentle, quiet man who deeply loved his family and friends and lived a long life with the greatest integrity and highest principles. After a stroke on the previous day, he passed peacefully into the light on March 17. He was born to Carrie and Robert S. Dickinson on April 23, 1918 in Ravenna, Nebraska and spent his school years in Omaha, where he graduated from Central High School, then graduated from Cornell University and the University of Nebraska Medical School. He then joined the U.S. Army Medical Corps and was stationed at Mason General Hospital on Long Island, New York, where he received a brief training in Psychiatry and treated returning soldiers for "battle shock". After the war he served briefly as a general practitioner on the plains of Nebraska but he developed renewed interest in psychiatry and returned to the University of Nebraska for more training. He then took further training and residency in Psychoanalysis at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago. He was in private practice in Omaha, then joined the faculty of the University of Chicago Medical School. He left Chicago in 1957 to head the Pinel Mental Hospital in Seattle, and later joined the Blakely Psychiatric Group and served part-time on the faculty of the University of Washington Medical School. He was one of the founding members of the Seattle Psychoanalytic Society. One of his colleagues, Dr. George Allison notes that "Hugh was appreciated and beloved across the country -- in his Princeton Study Group, his training in the Mid-West (Omaha and Chicago) -- and especially among his Seattle colleagues and friends. Everywhere he was regarded as a 'class act'". In January of 1958, he met Dee Squire, and they were married in June of that year. They enjoyed a rich and wonderful life together, and after his retirement in 1988, they traveled throughout the world, and spent many happy times with friends and family at their beach home on Puget Sound. Hugh enjoyed playing weekly games with his tennis partners, fishing and hunting with his colleagues, was an accomplished nature photographer, and enjoyed quiet times catching up on reading that he had had little time to do when in his medical practice. He was an active supporter of the arts, educational environmental, and health causes and organizations both locally and nationally. His colleague, Dr. Charles Mangham has written, "In addition to being a skilled and highly trained psychoanalyst, Hugh was an avid outdoorsman which is how I knew him best. He was steady, cool headed, trustworthy, and honest -- everything a man could ask for in a friend and companion. He is survived by his loving wife, Dee, his children, Robert Dickinson of Woodinville, Jim Dickinson of Seattle, Jeanne Pastore of Durango, Colorado, Mary Jarboe of Omaha, two sisters, Ann Mactier and Rae Keogh of Omaha, eight grandchildren, and five great grandchildren. He will be deeply missed by all those whose lives he touched with grace, thoughtfulness, and generosity. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be sent to the Seattle Psychoanalytic Institute, 4020 E. Madison St. #230, Seattle, WA 98112, the University of Washington Medical School, Seattle, WA 98195, Puget Sound Blood Center, 921 Terry Ave., Seattle, WA 98104, or Seattle Art Museum, 100 University, Seattle, WA 98101. A Celebration of Hugh's Life will be held on April 7 at 4:00 p.m. at Epiphany Church, 1805 38th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122.